Verstappen: "Our car is not good enough"

Qualifying in Monza was a big disappointment for Max Verstappen. According to the Dutchman, this is not because of the new rule about the engine setup, but because the RB16 is simply not good enough at the moment.

Verstappen can usually place himself directly behind the Mercedes cars in qualifying but this was certainly not the case on the Monza circuit. The Red Bull Racing driver will see the cars of Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez starting in front of him tomorrow, as he will start from P5.

According to the Dutchman, it is not because of the amount of downforce that Red Bull has to use compared to Mercedes and other teams. "I have tried every kind of downforce setup. I have tried low, medium and a little bit more. I end up doing the same lap time every time, so it shows that our car is not good enough at the moment. Top speed wise we are a bit down compared to Mercedes especially. That’s a given, but it’s not the deficit we have to them, the deficit in power is not that big. We didn’t have a good balance in the car, but not only that, but we’re also lacking grip", says Verstappen during an online press moment from Red Bull Racing.

Waiting for effect new rule

This weekend also saw the introduction of a new rule by the FIA, which allows teams to use only one engine setting throughout the weekend. "I honestly don’t think we went backwards. It’s also a little bit of a tricky track to see the full effect of the change. Because not everybody had a tow, some had a better tow than others. I think we have to wait a bit for a track where nobody wants a tow and everybody drives in clean air. It’s a bit too early to say. But then I again, I never really expected it to be very different, some other people were saying some different words. As you can see, it didn’t really shake up anything, but I also didn’t expect that".

Verstappen also came up with a notable problem on the radio during qualifying. "From Q1 through Q2, I kept driving closer to the car ahead, to get a better tow, but I was actually not going faster. I don’t know, maybe the wind changed, I have no clue", concludes the Dutchman.